*

there, as the dawn began to open in the east, the enemy became discouraged and hastily returned. Curtis was then set on shore at the lower narrows, to negotiate for a ransom of the prizes. This was so far effected that Capt. Matthew Robinson, through a relative on Monhegan, agreed to ransom his vessel at $600; but, having collected the money and put off for Monhegan, where the ships and prizes lay at anchor, he was met by a gale of wind and storm so severe as to retard his progress till the fleet had been compelled to sail for Halifax.t

After the capture of Castine by the British, Sept. 1st, the presumption was that Camden would also be visited by the enemy; to repel which Col. E. Foote, Sept. 2d, ordered the regiment under his command, including the militia of Thomaston, St. George, Camden, Hope, and Appleton, to assemble immediately at the Harbor in Camden, well equipped for actual service and with three days provisions. On the next day, Sept. 3d, all was bustle and preparation among the soldiers in " buckling on their shining arms in haste," and the selectmen in slaying cattle, cooking beef, and providing bread for their subsistence. Before night the regiment was paraded at Camden under command of the colonel aforesaid and Majors John Spear of this town and Jona. Wilson of Camden. The Thomaston companies of infantry, under command of Capt. Elkanah Spear of the north company and Capt. George Coombs of the south, together with the company from St. George and those from Hope and Appleton were quartered at or near the Camden meeting-house. On the 5th, Major Reed of Waldoboro', with one battalion of Col. S. Thatcher's regiment, advanced from Warren to this town and took quarters at Tilson's or Haskell's‡ tavern. The next day, news came, express, that an attack upon Camden was momentarily expected from several ships-of-war which had entered the western channel and taken a menacing position. On receipt of this, Reed's battalion and the artillery company under Capt. John Haskell, by order of Col. Eben. Thatcher, both of this town, proceeded on early in the day to the place of danger. These were followed in the afternoon by the other battalion of S. Thatcher's regiment under Maj. Hawes of Union.

* Curtis afterwards settled in Damariscotta. Dea. I. Robinson. + Capt. Henry Robinson, Capt. Jos. Gilchrist, Prince's Diary, Thomaston Recorder.

Israel Haskell, a joiner from the westward, had come to the place prior to 1808, built the house which he at this time occupied as a tavern, on the old Camden road in Rockland, where he and his wife both died of the typhoid or, as it was then called, slow nervous fever.

Throughout the day all was suspense and anxious expectation. During the night an alarm came that the enemy were hauling in shore, preparatory to landing; the troops were turned out and paraded, muskets were loaded, and consultations of officers held as to the best place and manner of meeting the foe, when it was ascertained that the hostile fleet was getting under way, and sailing, as it afterwards proved, for Halifax; and all returned to their repose. The next day, the two regiments, including two companies of light infantry, together with the cavalry company under Major, then Capt. I. Bernard, the artillery, and a volunteer company of exempts from Warren, were paraded in review before Major Gen. King of Bath, and, after sundry exercises and evolutions, returned to their homes under their respective commanders. The 3d regiment marched in a body as far as Gleason's tavern, (at the present Bank Corner) and were there addressed and dismissed by their colonel, S. Thatcher.

On Sunday, Sept. 11th, an express arrived from McCobb's Narrows with the intelligence that the British were coming up George's River. The people generally turned out with their muskets, and the artillery promptly took its station on Vose's wharf at Thomaston. After waiting till daylight, however, it was ascertained that the alarm was without foundation, having been caused by a swivel discharged by some mischievous boys down the river, for the purpose of frightening two young men by name of Gay and McIntyre who were out on a courting expedition, and which, being taken for a signal of danger, was answered by three guns at the lately captured fort, spreading the alarm in every direction.

In connection with these hostile demonstrations and groundless rumors, the following extracts of a letter, from Lieut. Otis Robbins, Jr. to his brother in this town, may be given, dated "Fort Sumner, [Portland] 17th Sept., 1814. On the 15th instant I took command of Fort Sumner, which is the first garrison duty I have done since I left Thomaston. Tell uncle Shepard he must not think hard because the Argus came on half a sheet; it was owing to the alarm in this town, and Mr. Douglas is a Militia officer, therefore, could not attend to his paper. If the enemy should get possession of this Town they would not get much, for all the property is moved out, the Town is nearly a wilderness, no stores open, and the finest houses are used for barracks for militia; there is, this day, said to be 10,000 militia in town; . . . I see men every day from Eastport, Castine, &c., therefore have the news very correct; but we often have false reports respecting

places being taken and burnt, &c. have heard several times Thomaston was taken. I board at Mr. Boston's, and

fare very well for $5 per week."

On the 27th Sept., a detachment of one company of militia was made from Thomaston and St. George, under the command of Capt. Thomas Kenny of St. George, Lieut. Sullivan Dwight from the north company in Thomaston, and Ensign Ralph Chapman of the south company. These, about 80 in number, rank and file, were posted as follows: Capt. Kenny, with the St. George soldiers, in that town at Tenant's Harbor, with a picket guard near McCobb's Narrows; Lieut. Dwight, with the troops detached from the north company in this town, at Lermond's Cove near the school-house, with a picket on Jameson's Point; Ensign Chapman, with those detached from the south company, at Wessa weskeag near the school-house, and a picket at Owl's Head. This detachment, thus posted, continued in service forty days, from Oct. 1st to Nov. 9th, with orders to let no boats pass without examination; none to go to Castine without a flag; none to go to Fox Island, Long Island, across the Bay, or up the same, without a pass; and none to return or come from those places without strict examination. The party at Lermond's Cove was composed as follows: S. Dwight, Lieut., commandant; Elisha Fales and Iddo Kimball, sergeants; John Ulmer, Jr., corporal; John Achorn, Benj. Blackington, Briggs Butler, David Crockett, Jr., Abner Cutler, Walter Edmunds, Freeman Harden, Jos. Ingraham, Jr., Theodore and Henry Kenneston, Wm. Killsa, James Morse, Sylvester Manning, Andrew Rankin, Robert Rivers, Shepard Robbins, (place supplied by Barnabas Webb) Geo. W. Stevens, Simon M. Shibles, (by John Butler, 4th,) Elijah Torrey, Jacob Trafton, Haynes Whitney, and Moses Kelloch, privates. Those at Wessuweskeag and Owl's Head, were Ralph Chapman, Ensign, commanding; John Montgomery and Thomas Bartlett, sergeants; Nathan Pilsbury, Jr., Wm. Kelloch, and David Perry, corporals; Edward Robinson and Benj. S. Dean, musicians; Jordan and Ephraim Lovett, Isaac and Coit Ingraham, Nathan Sherman, Jr., Eben. Thompson, Robert Heard, Wm. Snow, Jas. Sayward, John Pillsbury, Israel Dean, Isaac Packard, John Simonton, Chas. Dyer, Isaac Brown, Arch. C. Lowell, Wm. Monroe, Abiezer Coombs, John Eastman, John Emery, Joseph and Hanse Kelloch, and Ezekiel Post, privates.

These guards did good service; and several exciting scenes occurred. On Sunday, Oct. 9th, a privateer-looking vessel with American colors flying, having been observed lying in

Owl's Head harbor three days or more, without any person coming on shore, was suspected to be a British privateer in wait for coasters, like a spider for flies. It was now determined to put her to the proof. At evening, one hundred or more men from the Shore, Head of the Bay, and Wessaweskeag, including the guards above mentioned, mustered under command of Major Arch. G. Coombs, and took station partly on Munroe's Island and partly on the main opposite the vessel, which lay between the Point and Esq. Adams's house, now that of Capt. Jere. Sleeper, Jr. At about ten o'clock, in a calm cloudy night, they commenced an attack with musketry on both sides of her; and with effect, judging from the cries on board. There being no wind, the privateer put out her sweeps, and passed along down between the Point and the island; at the extremity of which, she again caught the nearer and more galling fire of her assailants. She finally escaped, however, well riddled with bullets, as reported by the people of Monhegan, where she stopped and sent a boat ashore for assistance. She was supposed to have been the former Revenue Cutter, captured by the British on taking Castine.*

One small boat of four or five tons, with seven cases of cotton goods probably intended for smuggling, was seized by the party at Lermond's Cove, Oct. 20th, delivered to the custom house, and libelled for trial.

Two days later, a little schooner loaded with lime for Newburyport, Capt. Barns, master, was observed coming out of what is now Rockland Harbor with a W. N. W. wind; but soon discovered a suspicious craft, and tacked. This craft, supposed to be a privateer, but which afterwards proved to be a revenue officer's boat from Wiscasset, employed in detecting smugglers, immediately gave chase to the schooner, which fetched up at Clam Cove, followed. on land by the soldiers from Lermond's Cove as far as Jameson's Point, for her protection. The revenue boat was hailed by them; her papers ordered to be sent on shore; and, after a satisfactory explanation, she put off towards Owl's Head. The main body of the soldiers then returned to Lermond's Cove; but the picket guard, nine in number, under command of Sergt. E. Fales, (one of them, B. Webb, being acquainted with Capt. Barns,) took it into their heads to go on board the little schooner, and help take her back toward Rockland. They, however, were observed by the British privateer, Thinks-I-to-Myself, prowling

* Dwight's orderly book; Capt. B. Webb, &c. VOL. I.

26

about off in the Bay. This vessel was furnished with five guns and one on a pivot, and immediately bore up directly towards them in pursuit. They stretched along Jameson's Point, till, getting under the lee of the trees with which it was covered, the wind failed them. The privateer then gained rapidly upon them till she also got under the trees; but, her sails being loftier than theirs, still kept gaining. Coming to a beach beneath a high wooded bank, the schooner was luffed on to it; and the soldiers and crew, twelve in number, got on shore with their weapons and three trunks which the captain felt anxious to save. The privateer came up and opened a brisk fire upon the little party, who lay under the bank concealed from view among the bushes and rocks, awaiting her approach. She manned a barge to send after them, and continued firing grape and other shot, which mostly passed over the heads of our men, cutting down shrubs and even tall trees on the bank above. They waited with muskets well loaded, some of them, Webb's in particular, with two balls and eleven buck-shot, and who remarked to Thomas Amsbury placed near him "now, Tom, you'll have a chance to kill an Englishman." When the barge came up rounding to and heaving up her oars, they suddenly fired, taking good aim and making the splinters fly. The privateer continued her fire; to which our men only replied by shouting" try it again!" After a time, the barge-men attempted to land; but so sharp was their reception by the little band now reinforced by the main body from Lermond's Cove, and Capt. Elkanah Spear having in the mean time mustered and brought his company to the rescue, that they became discouraged; and the Thinks-I-to-Myself thought proper to abandon her attempt and make off; — allowing the schooner to reach the harbor in safety and leaving at the Point one permanent memorial of her visit. This was made upon a large rock near the beach, surrounded at half-tide by water, behind which Jeremiah Berry (who, as well as Amsbury, was here at the time, either as volunteer or substitute for some of the party,) had taken shelter during the action, and found it a convenient bulwark; for he had scarcely reached it when a 14-pound ball struck upon its front, making the fragments fly about his ears, and leaving a hole large as a man's hat, which at low water may still be seen.*

Some affairs of a ludicrous character, as is always the case on such occasions, also took place during this term of service.

* Dwight's orderly book, Capt. B. Webb, Mrs. Diana Jones, &c.